he said, "if i could get jimmy carter to debate me, i might have a chance." >> schieffer: yet ford ended up hurting his chances with this statement. >> there is no soviet domination of eastern europe and there will be under a ford administration. >> schieffer: it was a serious gaffe in the cold war era when the soviet iron curtain extended across europe >> did i understand you to say, sir, that the russians are not using eastern europe as their own sphere of influence? >> schieffer: it certainly made for compelling television. each of the ford-carter debates drew in more than 60 million viewers. the public had spoken. the debates were here to stay. >> are you better off than you were four years ago? >> schieffer: today the debates have become perhaps the only chance to get millions from both parties to sit down and hear what the other side has to say. with just the candidates speaking for themselves. >> one of the things the debates do that's very important, they dampen down some of the effect of money and politics. >> schieffer: kathleen hall jamison of the annenberg school for communic